How much you want to bet that the person who had the emergency and the cashier or owner of the store had some kind of disagreement over the person paying for something, and the owner sent somebody to boot the ambulance and wasn't planning on letting them leave until he got paid.

ongbok:How much you want to bet that the person who had the emergency and the cashier or owner of the store had some kind of disagreement over the person paying for something, and the owner sent somebody to boot the ambulance and wasn't planning on letting them leave until he got paid.

JonPace:Since when can civillians go around attaching boots to vehicles?

Seriously. People are upset over the fact that it was an ambulance with its lights on, but the part where store employees can just put boots on vehicles as they please is equally WTF.

It's a privately owned parking lot, so they can boot cars in it, but they would generally need good reason.

My employer will boot vehicles in our parking garage, but only on your third offense of parking someplace that isn't marked as a space (like at the end of a row) because its dangerous. You get warnings the first two times (and probably e-mails if you registered your license plate like you're supposed to). They automatically remove the boot the next day - so you just have to find your own way home and back for one day.

Rising_Zan_Samurai_Gunman:My employer will boot vehicles in our parking garage, but only on your third offense of parking someplace that isn't marked as a space (like at the end of a row) because its dangerous.

If the spot's dangerous, why do you make sure the vehicle can't be moved instead of towing it?

Also a remarkably farked up work situation if you're booting employee vehicles instead of just telling them to move.

Hey, they do this all the time in the UK. Cop cars, fire engines, emergency response vehicles - doesn't matter. They're people licensed to do this there. Typical moronic culture has now invaded the US.

Rising_Zan_Samurai_Gunman:It's a privately owned parking lot, so they can boot cars in it, but they would generally need good reason.

My employer will boot vehicles in our parking garage, but only on your third offense of parking someplace that isn't marked as a space (like at the end of a row) because its dangerous. You get warnings the first two times (and probably e-mails if you registered your license plate like you're supposed to). They automatically remove the boot the next day - so you just have to find your own way home and back for one day.

I knew of a hotel that booted cars that were illegally parked overnight, but they specifically did it so they could have you issued a warning about trespassing before your car would be freed. They had a big problem with people filling their garage with cars for other hotels around them (which charged a lot, theirs was free but for guests only), and had signs and cameras everywhere warning that parking was for guests and vendors only.

I have no idea what the rules on booting a car, or if they did the bootings or if the police sent someone, but since the cops would show up to issue the trespass warning I'd assume they weren't doing anything wrong.

rikkidoxx:Hey, they do this all the time in the UK. Cop cars, fire engines, emergency response vehicles - doesn't matter. They're people licensed to do this there. Typical moronic culture has now invaded the US.

rikkidoxx:Hey, they do this all the time in the UK. Cop cars, fire engines, emergency response vehicles - doesn't matter. They're people licensed to do this there. Typical moronic culture has now invaded the US.

Booting a cop car?

Sounds like a REAL quick way to get tazed, pepper sprayed, and then bludgeoned liberally for "resisting arrest".

ongbok:How much you want to bet that the person who had the emergency and the cashier or owner of the store had some kind of disagreement over the person paying for something, and the owner sent somebody to boot the ambulance and wasn't planning on letting them leave until he got paid.

The guy ate one of those microwave sandwiches and keeled over, but he hadn't paid for it yet. He KNEW he was supposed to pay first.

DarkSoulNoHope:FTA: We called the telephone number on the sign, for the "Boot Man."

A convenience store employee picked up, then hung up.

Sounds like the convenience store is running a scam. "Yeah we booted your car, we can only take it off if you give us $200."

Yes, this is exactly the type of scam these characters run.

They also run a scam in which they call you up and claim you did not pay for your gas & drove off. They claim if you come pay them $150 in cash then they will not call the cops. We had one local C-store owned by foreigners who did this to a large number of people. Finally the police caught on and demanded that they stop their racket. The local neighborhood organized a boycott and put them out of business... but it took three years.

DarkSoulNoHope:FTA: We called the telephone number on the sign, for the "Boot Man."

A convenience store employee picked up, then hung up.

Sounds like the convenience store is running a scam. "Yeah we booted your car, we can only take it off if you give us $200."

If they've had problems with people parking and walking off to bars or venues or whatever, I've got no problem with it, any landowner or lessor can contract with a towing company and running it is just one step further. But the inherent conflict of interest in owning or receiving kickbacks from the booting/towing company means that any abuse should be a "go directly to jail" error to make up for that. They're a convenience store, it's not like they don't have CCTV to back up their story if people make complaints anyway.

gblive:DarkSoulNoHope: They also run a scam in which they call you up and claim you did not pay for your gas & drove off. They claim if you come pay them $150 in cash then they will not call the cops. We had one local C-store owned by foreigners who did this to a large number of people. Finally the police caught on and demanded that they stop their racket. The local neighborhood organized a boycott and put them out of business... but it took three years.

Did any convictions get reversed? If not, sounds like they got away with it.

Zarquon's Flat Tire:fusillade762: Honest Bender: vartian: Since when can civillians go around attaching boots to vehicles?

When has anyone other than civilians booted vehicles?

I think he means "Non-government employees".

Forever? Parking lots are private property, so you contract a company to be complete assholes for you. If you get booted in a parking lot you think the government did it? On the street yes, but not on private property.

K smart guy, go park in a handicapped spot in a parking lot and tell the cop writing you the ticket to F off and see how far that gets you.

A parking being private property isn't the same thing as your home. You can't shoot someone for coming into your parking lot uninvited and you can't cause destruction to someone's vehicle if they had a reasonable expectation of parking there.

They also can't force you to pay to have it removed, regardless of whose property it is

cman:serial_crusher: Yeah, I think in addition to the hefty lawsuit this patient will be collecting on, everybody involved in the decision to boot should take a nice trip to PMITA prison. There's absolutely no reason to do something that stupid.

Stupidity isn't a jailable offense. If it was, god damn, I would have a life sentence.

Most civilized places have laws against interfering with emergency services such as firemen and EMS.I believe rendering the ambulance undriveable may be covered.

gblive:DarkSoulNoHope: FTA: We called the telephone number on the sign, for the "Boot Man."

A convenience store employee picked up, then hung up.

Sounds like the convenience store is running a scam. "Yeah we booted your car, we can only take it off if you give us $200."

Yes, this is exactly the type of scam these characters run.

They also run a scam in which they call you up and claim you did not pay for your gas & drove off. They claim if you come pay them $150 in cash then they will not call the cops. We had one local C-store owned by foreigners who did this to a large number of people. Finally the police caught on and demanded that they stop their racket. The local neighborhood organized a boycott and put them out of business... but it took three years.

I'm going to need some more details on that. I ALWAYS get a receipt even if it means walking into the store and asking for one. Even without a receipt it's still going to show up on my credit card statement.

Even if you paid cash and didn't get a receipt, I don't see how the security camera footage is going to play out. It would obviously be edited if the part where you went into the store to pay were missing.

Lol... er, no. I have never parked in a fire lane, a handicapped spot or a spot marked reserved if it wasn't mine. I have scruples and common sense, which seems to be disappearing qualities with each generation.

Happy Hours:gblive: DarkSoulNoHope: FTA: We called the telephone number on the sign, for the "Boot Man."

A convenience store employee picked up, then hung up.

Sounds like the convenience store is running a scam. "Yeah we booted your car, we can only take it off if you give us $200."

Yes, this is exactly the type of scam these characters run.

They also run a scam in which they call you up and claim you did not pay for your gas & drove off. They claim if you come pay them $150 in cash then they will not call the cops. We had one local C-store owned by foreigners who did this to a large number of people. Finally the police caught on and demanded that they stop their racket. The local neighborhood organized a boycott and put them out of business... but it took three years.

I'm going to need some more details on that. I ALWAYS get a receipt even if it means walking into the store and asking for one. Even without a receipt it's still going to show up on my credit card statement.

Even if you paid cash and didn't get a receipt, I don't see how the security camera footage is going to play out. It would obviously be edited if the part where you went into the store to pay were missing.

The store owner who tries to commit on his blackmailing scheme is probably going by the assumption that not all of us are law abiding, wherein the victim might be more inclined to pay the $150 than have a cop show up at their door.

Years ago I saw a guy park his new corvette diagonally across two handicapped spots and run into a bar at a strip mall A policeman saw him doing it as well. Rather than a ticket, he parked the police car so the guy was blocked in (you had to back out if the spots). He then apparently called for a ride and another police car picked him up. About half an hour later, a truck pulls up, paints the handicapped symbol on two spots that were normal parking spots before. I was finishing lunch at the time and went to talk to the crew who told me that the mayor owned the mall, and the police department had two extra cars so the vette was going to stay blocked for a week.

someguy945:BronyMedic: if you say you've never parked in the fire lane at a grocery store while getting food, you're lying..lol

What the fu....have all you guys done this?

I got some shiat recently for parking our ambulance in the fire lane at a mall for a 5 minute work-related errand. I've been an EMT for 3 years, my partner for more than 10, and nobody told me that it was against policy to park in the fire lane

I've actually gotten booted in this parking lot. I am pretty sure the towing company and the store are owned by the same family, and they generate a ton of their revenue simply booting people who park in their lot and walk away.

JonPace:vartian: Convenience store employees allegedly put a restrictive parking boot on the ambulance. And now it was stuck.

Since when can civillians go around attaching boots to vehicles?

Seriously. People are upset over the fact that it was an ambulance with its lights on, but the part where store employees can just put boots on vehicles as they please is equally WTF.

my company does that. I think many private parking lots do it. If you want to buy some boots, try awdirect.com. They also have some very nice tools for when your keys get locked in the car.

/one of the guys I work with left his Jeep in a pay lot overnight and was surprised to find that it was booted when he got his hung-over ass out of bed 10am the day before Thanksgiving. He just paid the fee last night.

DarkSoulNoHope:The store owner who tries to commit on his blackmailing scheme is probably going by the assumption that not all of us are law abiding, wherein the victim might be more inclined to pay the $150 than have a cop show up at their door.

Send all the cops to my door you want. Unless I have a a meth lab or a crop of marijuana in my basement that can be smelled from the front door, nothing is going to happen. I know what crimes I commit (and meth labs and marijuana grow ops are not among them) If I paid for gas (as I always do) and a convenience store were trying to shake me down I'd say bring it on. I would raise hell.

Most people are for the most part law-abiding and nobody wants cops coming to their door but you can't just threaten people with false police reports and expect them to pay up. I expect every gas station in the US has security cameras. Certainly all the ones I've been to this century do. If a convenience store called me up and threatened to file a police report if I didn't pay them $150 I'd call the cops. I'd tell them exactly what happened and demand they make an arrest of whoever called me. I would show them receipts and ask that they look at the security footage.

Maybe this scam would work on a few people, but I don't really see it having a snowball's chance in hell of it having a very high success rate and I would expect the blackmailers would very quickly get busted. Blackmail works a whole lot better when there actually is something to blackmail someone for.

If I actually had driven off without paying, I might be inclined to pay them $150 rather than face actual charges but I just assume that driving off without paying for gas is not a very smart crime - certainly not worth the risks.

Happy Hours:Maybe this scam would work on a few people, but I don't really see it having a snowball's chance in hell of it having a very high success rate and I would expect the blackmailers would very quickly get busted. Blackmail works a whole lot better when there actually is something to blackmail someone for.

I think that's over-thinking the situation. It's not $150 so the cops don't sniff around and find something else, it's $150 or you go to jail (and eventually prison) for stealing gas.

Yeah, in that case, I see fire trucks parked in the red all the time at my local grocery store, Sheriffs vehicles parked in the red at the fast food joints, etc. And I've seen them have to bail instantly when they get a call, leaving whatever it was they were doing in the store.

I have zero problems with emergency dudes and dudettes parking in red areas. Me in the red zone? Not a chance.

Yeah, in that case, I see fire trucks parked in the red all the time at my local grocery store, Sheriffs vehicles parked in the red at the fast food joints, etc. And I've seen them have to bail instantly when they get a call, leaving whatever it was they were doing in the store.

I have zero problems with emergency dudes and dudettes parking in red areas. Me in the red zone? Not a chance.

This. They're closer to the vehicle if they get a call, they don't have to worry about getting blocked in or having to back out of a regular space, and...if there was a need for an emergency vehicle to use the space for an actual emergency, well, hey, they're already there.

ongbok:How much you want to bet that the person who had the emergency and the cashier or owner of the store had some kind of disagreement over the person paying for something, and the owner sent somebody to boot the ambulance and wasn't planning on letting them leave until he got paid.

fnordfocus:Happy Hours: Maybe this scam would work on a few people, but I don't really see it having a snowball's chance in hell of it having a very high success rate and I would expect the blackmailers would very quickly get busted. Blackmail works a whole lot better when there actually is something to blackmail someone for.

I think that's over-thinking the situation. It's not $150 so the cops don't sniff around and find something else, it's $150 or you go to jail (and eventually prison) for stealing gas.

More extortion than blackmail.

Thing is, it's a really DUMB scam.

Why? Because think, how would they substantiate their accusation?

If it was paid for with a credit card, there will be a charge on the record. If they paid cash, they'll still have a receipt.

If you get somebody who paid cash and didn't get a receipt, then you have the issue of having to pull out video evidence. . .which will show the actually paid. A sudden blank spot in the recording right when they visited would look helluva suspicious, and be Reasonable Doubt.

Sounds like a scam that somebody really dumb would try. It would fall apart real quick the first time they tried it on somebody who wasn't deathly afraid of running into the police.

Silverstaff:fnordfocus: Happy Hours: Maybe this scam would work on a few people, but I don't really see it having a snowball's chance in hell of it having a very high success rate and I would expect the blackmailers would very quickly get busted. Blackmail works a whole lot better when there actually is something to blackmail someone for.

I think that's over-thinking the situation. It's not $150 so the cops don't sniff around and find something else, it's $150 or you go to jail (and eventually prison) for stealing gas.

More extortion than blackmail.

Thing is, it's a really DUMB scam.

Why? Because think, how would they substantiate their accusation?

If it was paid for with a credit card, there will be a charge on the record. If they paid cash, they'll still have a receipt.

If you get somebody who paid cash and didn't get a receipt, then you have the issue of having to pull out video evidence. . .which will show the actually paid. A sudden blank spot in the recording right when they visited would look helluva suspicious, and be Reasonable Doubt.

Sounds like a scam that somebody really dumb would try. It would fall apart real quick the first time they tried it on somebody who wasn't deathly afraid of running into the police.

Only thing I can think of, if this calling a customer to say "You didn't pay us for the gas you got, pay us $150 or else we call the cops" scheme to work (if it's true, and not just some fiction concocted by the origional poster) is that it wouldn't be a random customer the extorter would pick but a customer that the business owner profiled as unscrupulos.

DarkSoulNoHope:Silverstaff: fnordfocus: Happy Hours: Maybe this scam would work on a few people, but I don't really see it having a snowball's chance in hell of it having a very high success rate and I would expect the blackmailers would very quickly get busted. Blackmail works a whole lot better when there actually is something to blackmail someone for.

I think that's over-thinking the situation. It's not $150 so the cops don't sniff around and find something else, it's $150 or you go to jail (and eventually prison) for stealing gas.

More extortion than blackmail.

Thing is, it's a really DUMB scam.

Why? Because think, how would they substantiate their accusation?

If it was paid for with a credit card, there will be a charge on the record. If they paid cash, they'll still have a receipt.

If you get somebody who paid cash and didn't get a receipt, then you have the issue of having to pull out video evidence. . .which will show the actually paid. A sudden blank spot in the recording right when they visited would look helluva suspicious, and be Reasonable Doubt.

Sounds like a scam that somebody really dumb would try. It would fall apart real quick the first time they tried it on somebody who wasn't deathly afraid of running into the police.

Only thing I can think of, if this calling a customer to say "You didn't pay us for the gas you got, pay us $150 or else we call the cops" scheme to work (if it's true, and not just some fiction concocted by the origional poster) is that it wouldn't be a random customer the extorter would pick but a customer that the business owner profiled as unscrupulos.

Wait, and how the hell would the gas station attendant or owner have a random customer's PHONE #?

I need to find the story from a few years ago where the tow company booted a guy's car in front of his house. He ended up wheeling his car into the garage and holding the boot hostage for a while. It was on Fark, I can't remember more details. Anyone? Bueller?